1 John 4:7-21
God's LOVE and Our Love
7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
13 This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. 16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. 17 This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
19 We love because he first loved us. 20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. 21 And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.
Luke 15:4-6
God Seeks Those Lost
4 “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? 5 And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders 6 and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’
Luke 15:11-32
God LOVES the Lost
11 Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.
13 “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.
17 “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ 20 So he got up and went to his father.
“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.
21 “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.
25 “Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on.27 ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’
28 “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 29 But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’
31 “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.32 But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”
We have positive emotions and we also have negative ones...And we have positive thoughts, and we have negative thoughts...Negative thoughts can lead us to negative feelings and emotions, if we are not careful...It is much better to live our lives in the positive thoughts and emotions, to keep a positive attitude...When we constantly live our lives in negative emotions we are very much vulnerable to fear and anxiety, and being accidently negative natured by our negative thoughts...And thus, we are not living an abundant life in negativity...The biology of fear limits our lives and our ability to think clearly and to be positive if we stay negative over long periods of time...We often think irrationally when we are in a state of anxiety and negativity...We can feel alone and lost in fear and lost in this anxiousness...Constant fear and anxiousness can keep us alone and separated from others...This is not love, when we are in an anxiety state...Fear and dread freezes us and keeps us from sharing and helping others, because we are disrupted and dreading about what is going to happen next or what might happen around us next...We therefore become lost and maybe feel alone...
St. John in some ways explains the importance of love, when we have fears and are anxious...The Saint says there is no fear in love...Perfect love can drive out fear, because fear has to do with punishment...The one who fears is not made perfect in love...As best we can we must live our lives in love, and this may be very difficult...When we are bogged down in negative emotions and thoughts, such as fear, let us seek God...He is the Most Positive Force in the universe...He wants us to seek Him, and He wants to help those that are lost and alone...He wants to help those who are lost...God seeks the lost and then rejoices, when He finds them...Jesus tells the story of God and even though He has one-hundred sheep, and greatly LOVES them all, He is greatly bothered when one gets lost...Jesus tells the story much like this: Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses just one of them...You still have the ninety nine with you...Doesn’t God leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the one lost sheep until He finds it?...And when He finds it, He joyfully puts it on His shoulders and goes home...Then God calls His friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with Me; I have found My one lost sheep...
And in the Parable of the Prodigal Son, God is a radical-LOVING, most gracious Father, waiting for His lost son...His lost son finally comes home and God runs to him...The prodigal son did not do good, but God LOVES him, He has always LOVED him...He didn't stop LOVING when he left with half of His estate, because money and material things mean little to God...God was not physically with the lost prodigal son, so He couldn't have told him to be better or do better...But God was with His lost son...And He helped Him come to His senses, with His eternal forgiveness and grace...God's LOVE help bring His lost son back home...The prodigal realized the LOVE, grace, and forgiveness of his Father...
God is LOVE...He LOVES each of us...We are His children -we are His sheep...And His Perfect LOVE drives out fear...Love very much helps us, when we have fearful and anxious feelings...Let us seek God and put our thoughts on Him, and let us know that He is seeking us...